Circus life is backbreaking work - and no one knows this better than professional contortionist Irina Vaganova who literally broke her back after years of performing.

Rather than give up all dreams of the circus, Vaganova turned to game design and created Circus Life - a bite-sized game that takes place in an old-timey carnival.

The free-to-play game follows the misadventures of a young man who joins a traveling circus and falls for a beautiful young acrobat.

In order to prove his love to her, he must succeed in a series of challenging mini-games set around the fair grounds.

It's not all glitz and glamour under the big top, however.

While some of the mini-games are fun and exciting - like flinging food at circus animals and tossing popcorn through hoops - you'll also have the chance to do clean-up detail and catch animal poop in a giant bucket.

If rushing to catch falling lion feces doesn't sound like fun, you can always skip that one and play around with the balloon toss instead.

The graphics in Circus Life add a cool, vintage feel to the overall game, so it might be worth checking out this weekend if you've got a few minutes to spare and 30 MB free on your iOS device of choice.